Cold Weather Problems

Comments

my stalling issue was not as serious as yours and P0505 did come up and I had IACV and Compute replaced. I tried reading up on it and had temp sensor and MAF replaced myself but that didn't help. Now that you mention pinging, you may have the same issue I had - clogged up EGR Valve tube. EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation. Basically, exhaust gases are pumped back into the engine to lower the combustion temperature, the only reason is to reduce air pollution. EGR Valve tube or passage clogging will cause your car not to idle steady and stall and it will most definitely cause pinging even when using 93 octane. Here is the service I had done with a private mechanic, which fixed the issue - removed intake manifold, removed EGR Valve tube and cleaned it out. Also, since the manifold is off he replaced manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets and cleaned throttle body. The service costed me $250 including all gaskets and it was a three hour job but the mechanic was good, he knew what he was doing and did this before. Go this route, I think that clogged up tube was causing various sensors to malfunciton because of improper air-fuel mixture all the time. The computer was trying to adjust but when it failed then it would display some sensor being defective. The dealer would not want to do this service, they only replace the part based on computer reading, which is usually easiest. Pretty much any sensor can be replaced without too much disassembly. Try this and let me know how it goes. I wouldn't replace any more sensors before digging under the intake manifold.

Has anyone had any luck with this problem?? I have the same problem with my 2001 Maxima.

It all started with a leaking muffler. The day all the problems started, the seam at the muffler flange broke. I was on the highway when it broke so nothing happened until I went to exit the highway. When I let off the throttle the engine shut off. I couldn't start it for the life of me. It would immediately shut off after turning over. I noticed that when I held the gas down the car would start. Just to get the car home I turned up the idle stop and brought it home to troubleshoot.

The next day after the car was warmed up I moved the idle stop back down and the car stayed on. I replaced the muffler and the car seemed to be fine. One the car cooled down I had the same issue. I only have to hold the throttle opne for about 30 seconds and gently release the gas and it will stay running. I noticed that the higher idle at cold temps never occur. The idle goes straight to warm idle 700-800 RPM's. I also never got any engine lights.

So far I've removed and cleaned the intake, IACV, MAF, throttle body and I find nothing but normal wear. I also pulled one plug at a time while cranking the engine to check if I had a leaky injector but I had no luck. I putt he scanner on it and the temp reads correctly and the throttle position checks out ok too. Ive got no vacuum leaks or engine codes. Once the car warms up, it starts fine, and after it sits for about 2-3 hours it wont start. I feel like im chasing a ghost here....

My 2003 Montana when cold makes a ticking/ slappping sound that seems to come from the accessory belt. The frequency varies with rpm, but is about 4 ticks per second. Once warmed up, the ticking stops. The belt looks fine, as do the pulleys. I thought maybe the tensioner is isn't working right when cold, but don't know how to confirm. Any ideas?

My F250 runs rough and seems to cut out at random intervals, especially during acceleration or low RPM/high torque driving. It starts and idles rough but doesn't die. The warmer it gets, the better it runs. After it is completely warmed up, it runs normally. The effect is severe when ambient temps are below 10F and gradually lessen until there is almost no effect at 60F.

I've checked the resistance on the coolant temp and air temp sensors both hot and cold and the reading are close to what the maintenance manual says.

I have a 2007 4-door VW GTI. This winter, in the first storm of the season, ice formed at the bottom, front of my front doors, and the only way I could get out of the car was to force open the door, curling up the bottom corner of the door where it meets the front quarter panel. I even made my kids climb out the window on the passendger side to avoid bending that door, too, which was also full of ice. Sure enough, next snowstorm we had, that ice formed again, in the same place. If the door had not already been bent, it would have been. This is a great car, but there seems to be no way for me to avoid an annual repair of the same problem. Has anyone else had this issue?

Just wondering if you found out or solved this problem with the engine knock at start up please let me know. Some people say that is normal and others say it could be a lifter problem or oil compression problem at start up. Let me know what you think or try and email me at billabongsurfer@juno.com thank you.joe

Just wondering if you found out or solved this problem with the engine knock at start up please let me know. Some people say that is normal and others say it could be a lifter problem or oil compression problem at start up. Let me know what you think or try and email me at billabongsurfer@juno.com thank you.joe

This is a very late reply but I just had the same issue with my GTI where ice builds up in the door jam and bends the forward lower corner of the door panel when you open the door. I called my dealer and there's a tech service bulletin about it where they rework the drain and fix the bent corner of the door.

I believe my washer reservoir has cracked due to not enough deicer in the reservoir. However, I wonder why this can happen in that there is no impediment to expansion of the liquid as it freezes (the cap is not enough contain the expanding liquid).

Not unless the filler opening is as wide as the reservoir itself, that opening is enough of a constriction to force the fluid to expanded elsewhere. In other words, the reservoir will crack in the weakest point. Evidently the cap held on tight enough that the reservoir broke first.

My son has a 2001 Focus ZX3. About a week ago he filled it up with gas, then the next day it would crank fine, but would not start at all. We pushed it into the garage to warm and put a heater on it. After about 4 hours it started up just fine.

We left it in the attached garage, but the next day it was back to no start. Put some "Heet" in it and put the heater back on and it started again today, but after idling for a few minute it died and would not restart. It would crank but not give any sign of possibly starting at all.

I had assumed the problem was some water had frozen in the gas line, because it started right up after heating it for a while. But then why would it die after idling for a few minutes with a full tank of gas?

Oh, and all our gas here contains ethanol so I would have thought that would have absorbed any water.

Got it to start after putting a heater on it for a while again today. It ran like crap. He started backing it out after it had warmed up a little and it died as soon as load was put on engine. It did restart and he kept it running (badly) for 15-20 minutes. Had keep a foot on the gas pedal to keep it from dying.

The CEL came on with P0300 - "random/multiple cylinder misfire".

We did find out there is "extended coverage" from Ford for the fuel pump (they call it fuel delivery module). The description of this indicates that the fuel pump causes "contamination of the fuel filter" and this causes surging, hesitation, etc. and can ultimately cause stalling.

The way it was running seems to match this, though I don't think it normally appears suddenly like this. But since his fuel pump was never replaced under this program, I think we will assume this is the cause and get that done and go from there.

I have a 2006 Honda CR-V Ex and we get a lot of freezing rain wet snow here in the east. When it's cold and there's ice or snow the first time I press on the breaks there is very little reaction from the car, if you forget about this it is quite alarming. My practice now is when I pull out of my driveway I start driving down the street and do a hard break to warm up the breaks. Once I do this the breaks are fine for the rest of the drive. This can't be normal, several times I've been looking for a "soft" place to crash when I hit the breaks again and it stops.I've mentioned it to the dealer but of course they can't find anything, problem is if I've driven there I've already warmed up the breaks. It usually only happens in the morning but sometimes in the evening if the car has been sitting out in the cold weather for a while.

That's what I was thinking...that his power brake booster is somehow not getting enough vacuum (or has bled out the vacuum reservoir) at first start-up. If that's the case, I'd check for vacuum leaks but if it's some internal problem with the booster, that could be tricky to diagnose.

It would be interesting to note if the pedal "feels" different upon first application---very hard and unyielding.

It would also be interesting to see if you could "stab" the brake pedal a few times before starting out in the morning, to see if that corrects the problem.